Italia Mia, a guide to Italy, Italian and Italian-American culture
Italia Mia (My Italy) is a directory of resources about Italy, Italian and Italian American culture. Italia Mia has been on line since 1998, providing useful links to thousands of Italians and Italophiles around the
world.
Some of our most popular categories are: Community were you will find links to chat rooms, social networks, forums, dating services and organizations. Music,
Cinema, Cuisine, Art, News and useful sites about Italy and Italian culture. The Travel section offers links to Italy travel services, hotels reservations, regions of Italy and travel guides.
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The Annotico Report
A commentary on current news of interest to those of Italian ancestry, that appear in US, Italian, and International publications. Subscribe | Visit
Video of Italy La Dolce Vita in Tuscany
The rural charms of Tuscany give us a healthy dose of the "sweet life" as we hunt for truffles in an oak forest, nibble our way through an artichoke festival, and ride a classic convertible through the cypress groves of Mona Lisa's backyard.
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a state of southern Europe whose territory largely coincides in the most part with the homonymous geographical region.
Also called the "boot" for its shape and "bel paese" (beautiful country) because of its climate and its natural and artistic beauty, Italy is geographically composed of three parts: the mainland, a peninsula and islands. To the north it is separated naturally from the Alps and borders (clockwise) with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The microstates San Marino and Vatican City are enclaves entirely within its territory, while the municipality of Campione d'Italia is an exclave located in the Italian-speaking region of Ticino in Switzerland. The main language is Italian, spoken by 70 million native mother tongue and 125 million people as a second language.
The geographical territory known as Italy, before hosting the Italian Republic, has been inhabited since the Paleolithic and has hosted numerous peoples with very different cultures. The city of Rome (the capital of the Republic) was for centuries the political and cultural center of Western civilization, the capital of an empire that extended to most of Europe, North Africa, Middle East, to the current Iraq and territories between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Italian peninsula was subject to many invasions by barbarian northern European and Mediterranean populations, who ruled until the birth of the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne. During the Renaissance Italy quickly became the cultural and economic center of the western world. From the seventeenth century the Spanish rule, then French and Austrian peoples led to the unification of the Kingdom of Italy, which occurred after several clashes in 1861. After the victory of World War I, in the twenty years of fascist dictatorship between the World War I and World War II, Italy came to have a colonial empire. Then, after a civil war that lasted two years, Italy was liberated from fascism: the Kingdom of Italy ceased to exist June 18, 1946, when, through a referendum, the state has assumed the current republican form.
Today Italy is a globalization that has one of the highest living standards in the world, and is a founding member of the European Union, NATO, Council of Europe, OECD and adheres to the UN and the European Union West. Also is the eighth military power in the world and shares of NATO nuclear weapons on its territory (the NATO Defense Council based in Rome). Member of the G7, G8 and G20 is the seventh-largest economy and the eleventh state of the world in the classification of hard power, like the UK, France, Germany and Russia. Italians are among the people with more life expectancy thanks to the famous cuisine and have the second health system in the world. Containing in its territory about 70% of the artistic treasures of world heritage, Italy is the country that boasts the highest number of sites sponsored by UNESCO, and the fifth most visited country in the world.
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Italia Mia Network The Italia Mia Network brings you the best of Italy, from the arts to the latest news from Italy, including communities to help you get in touch with other people from Italy and from around the world, Italian products, and free services. Visit our websites:
